In several different industries and for a wide variety of applications, electrical connector designs are standardized on various different harnesses or on various different discrete ends of a particular harness. The need for standardization of electrical connectors for a particular harness design is particularly true in the automotive industry.
The electrical connectors for these harness assemblies have been proposed having various features to afford a secure mechanical and electrical engagement with a mating electrical connector or other mateable connecting devices. In many applications, the connector includes numerous electrical terminals or contacts. Often, these connectors include housings having rows of terminal cavities. The housings are stacked together to form the connector. In some connectors, the terminals may be assembled into each housing before the housings are assembled together to build the connector. One problem with this type of connector is that the assembled connector must be constructed to a high degree of precision to assure proper alignment with a mating connector. Additionally, the proper installation of each terminal within a corresponding cavity in each housing must be assured.
In addition, the number of terminals required in a harness assembly may change over time. In various applications, as various components are added to the system, there is a need to provide additional power or signal terminals.
Therefore, it would be beneficial to provide a stacked electrical connector which is modular and expandable, and which assures a precise mating of each housing forming the connector. In addition, it would be beneficial to provide a stacked electrical connector which can be sealed.